BILL NUMBER: SJR 15	CHAPTERED  09/02/99

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   95
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 2, 1999
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 26, 1999
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   JULY 8, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Sher
   (Principal coauthor:  Assembly Member Oller)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Alpert, Chesbro, Dunn, Hayden, Johannessen,
Leslie, Monteith, Mountjoy, Ortiz, Perata, Rainey, Solis, and Speier)

   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Aroner, Bock, Cox, House, Kuehl,
Leach, Lempert, Longville, Machado, Mazzoni, Migden, Strom-Martin,
and Thomson)

                        MAY 13, 1999

   Senate Joint Resolution No. 15--Relative to gasoline.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 15, Sher.  Gasoline:  MTBE.
   This measure would memorialize the United States Environmental
Protection Agency, to the extent permitted by the federal Clean Air
Act, to grant an administrative waiver of the act's oxygenated
gasoline requirement for the State of California.  The measure would
also memorialize the United States Congress, to the extent that an
administrative waiver may not be granted, to enact legislation that
would permit California to promulgate and implement specified
reformulated gasoline standards and would memorialize the President
of the United States to sign that legislation, if enacted.




   WHEREAS, The federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L.
101-549) mandate the use of reformulated gasoline containing 2
percent, by weight, oxygen in areas designated as nonattainment areas
due to high ambient ozone levels in summer months and high ambient
carbon monoxide levels in winter months; and
   WHEREAS, The federal oxygenate mandate requires the use of
oxygenate in gasoline in approximately 70 percent of the California
retail gasoline market; and
   WHEREAS, California has historically led the nation in enacting
air quality improvement measures that provide substantial health,
economic, and social benefits for the state's citizens; and
   WHEREAS, The State Air Resources Board's Cleaner Burning Gasoline
Program has resulted in reducing emissions equivalent to removing 3.5
million cars from California's roads; and
   WHEREAS, The California Cleaner Burning Gasoline Program provides
greater flexibility than the federal program to produce gasoline that
meets stringent emission reduction mandates; and
   WHEREAS, Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) has been used in
California as the primary oxygenate additive to gasoline because its
relatively low vapor pressure (RVP) simplifies the production of
low-RVP summer gasolines, and because of its compatibility with the
blending and distribution system for gasoline, its ability to be
transported by pipeline, and its high octane rating; and
   WHEREAS, Pursuant to Chapter 816 of the Statutes of 1997, the
University of California prepared a report that assessed the health
and environmental effects of MTBE and submitted that report to the
Legislature and the Governor in November 1998; and
   WHEREAS, The University of California report found that there are
significant risks and costs associated with water contamination due
to the use of MTBE because it is highly soluble in water and will
transfer readily to groundwater from leaking underground storage tank
systems and other components of the gasoline distribution system;
and
   WHEREAS, The County of Santa Clara, the City of Santa Monica, and
the Lake Tahoe region, as well as other municipalities in other areas
of the state, have all been forced to shut down public drinking
water wells due to MTBE contamination; and
   WHEREAS, The University of California report found that there is
no significant additional air quality benefit to the use of
oxygenates such as MTBE in reformulated gasoline, relative to the
alternative non-oxygenated formulations identified by the California
Cleaner Burning Gasoline Program; and
   WHEREAS, United States Senator Diane Feinstein and United States
Congressman Brian Bilbray previously introduced legislation, H.R.
630, to grant California the flexibility to apply its own gasoline
formulation regulations, thus relieving California from the federal
oxygenated gasoline mandate, so long as California achieves
equivalent or greater air emission reductions; and
   WHEREAS, California has sought and received waivers from other
provisions of the federal Clean Air Act, including Section 209(b)(1)
of that act, and has demonstrated no loss of air quality benefits
after those waivers have been issued; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully
requests that, to the extent permitted by the federal Clean Air Act,
the United States Environmental Protection Agency grant an
administrative waiver of the federal Clean Air Act's oxygenated
gasoline requirement to the State of California, given the state's
independent requirements for clean gasoline that meet both state and
national ambient air quality standards; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully requests that, to the extent an administrative waiver of
the federal Clean Air Act may not be granted by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency, the Congress of the United States
enact legislation similar to, or including, the Feinstein-Bilbray
legislation, that would permit California to promulgate and implement
reformulated gasoline standards that would allow greater flexibility
in producing gasoline than that currently authorized by the federal
Clean Air Act's oxygenated gasoline mandate, so long as California
continues to achieve equivalent or greater air emission reductions
than required under the federal Clean Air Act; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully requests the President of the United States to sign that
legislation if it is enacted by the Congress of the United States;
and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
the Secretary of the United States Environmental Protection Agency,
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of
the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in
the Congress of the United States.
